


spatially expand your horizons

by mixtapestar



Category: folklore - Taylor Swift (Album)
Genre: 2000s, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, Humor, POV Outsider, School Reunion, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27420856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: Inez was excited to catch up with everyone at their 10-year high school reunion. Things were sure to get interesting.
Relationships: Betty (folklore)/Narrator of august (folklore)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	spatially expand your horizons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xslytherclawx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/gifts).



> Merry Yuletide, xslytherclawx! I actually matched with you on a different fandom, but I really loved your prompts and the idea of writing for folklore, so I went for that. Hope you enjoy! <3

Inez surveyed the results of many months of hard work and smiled. Their high school gym was now nearly unrecognizable beneath her committee's efforts. The 'Class of 2000' banners hung proudly from the basketball hoops, which had been repurposed to serve as light fixtures. The dance floor didn't look quite as she'd envisioned it, but it would serve the purpose.

As people started to arrive, Inez hovered by the check-in table and "escorted" those she was most interested in catching up with to the snack table or to the bar, depending on her mood.

When Cassandra Prince arrived, Inez didn't recognize her at all. Her ever-present braces were long gone, leaving behind a beautiful smile and a confidence she'd never had in the four years they'd known each other.

Inez latched onto her arm, filling her full of compliments as she steered them toward the bar. "You've simply got to get on Facebook, darling, it makes it so easy to keep up with everyone. Did you know Emily Putnam already has three kids? _Three_. She won't be here tonight, I'm sure you can imagine why."

Cassandra chuckled. "I see you haven't changed much, my dear." She ordered a martini that had Inez's eyebrows raising in its specificity. She didn't even know they _had_ candied bacon back there, let alone that they'd put it in drinks. "I suppose you'll want to know all about my love life, my career, my living situation?"

Inez smirked. "The fact that you call it a 'career' tells me quite a bit off the bat. But let's start with 'love life'..."

By the time eight o'clock hit, an hour after their official start time, the party was in full swing. "Genie in a Bottle" blared over the speakers, and quite a few of Inez's former classmates were reaching that state where they were just drunk enough to dance the haphazard way they had in high school. Inez still had a list of people she wanted to talk to, but she stopped by the bar to top off her long-depleted glass of white wine.

She was there, leaning heavily against the bar and adjusting the heels that she already regretted wearing, when she saw him stumble in, looking as absent-minded as ever. James Mitchell. He looked almost the same, dimples popping out the moment he walked up to the check-in table and started flirting with Ana. Inez settled her feet back into her shoes and grabbed her new glass of wine absently, vowing to go back and tip later as she made a beeline for the new arrival.

"Well, look who it is. Everyone's favorite basketball player."

James snorted. "More like benchwarmer, and far from a class favorite, but I know how you like to color things." He pulled her into a light hug, patting her on the back awkwardly. "Good to see you, Inez."

"Likewise," she answered, lips curling into a grin. "Now, food or drink first?"

James took a deep breath. "Drink, please."

She led him to the bar farthest from the dance floor, prompting him to tell all about his current construction business, apparently off to a good start since he'd broken off from his father's business. She had to apply the best of her 'this is _entirely_ captivating' expressions as he started getting into the weeds on soil samples, but soon she was able to take over the conversation again.

"I'm glad you decided to come tonight. I know you were pretty adamant about graduating and never looking back, by the end."

James blushed and ducked his head. "I made a lot of bonehead moves, back then. I was kinda hoping to tie up some loose ends, being here tonight." He twirled his little stirring straw in his drink, staring at it like it held the answer to life's biggest challenges. "Is, uh. D'you know if… Betty's gonna be here?"

Oh, dear. She bit her lip to keep from smiling. _He didn't know_. "She did RSVP," she said, lazily taking a sip of her wine. James nodded, eyes flicking to the entrance. She lowered her glass and tacked on, "With a plus one."

"Right. I mean," he chuckled, "of course. I didn't mean—I just hoped I could talk to her, is all. It's been a long time, and when we weren't—when _I_ wasn't— I just miss my friend."

Inez felt guilty, for a moment, for taking joy in his discomfort. Just because she too struggled with mixed-up feelings for Betty back in high school, once hating James for even considering another woman, didn't mean that he was still that same stupid boy. "She'll be here. We keep up on Facebook. For what it's worth, I really don't think there are any hard feelings on her side."

"Really?" James said, so pathetically earnest that she strongly considered giving him a heads up. But, in the end, the drama-loving side of her just had to wait and see what would happen.

She walked them over toward the snack table, shooting a smile at Mac Riley as they reached for the same plate. Inez remembered the flip in her stomach when Mac had RSVPed, tacking on a note that he would be showing up as himself, as a man, and that he preferred his name tag simply said 'Mac' instead of the less fitting name he grew up with. She'd taken great pains to ensure Mac could attend without having to deal with any hate or unnecessary confusion, and she felt like the sight of him, all confident in his leather jacket and tight jeans, was something of a reward for her efforts. The wink he shot her way before walking off with his canapé made her stumble, knocking her hip against the table as she endeavored to tune back in to what James was saying about living outside the city.

She was just about to make her excuses and walk away, to find her next conversation partner, when James trailed off mid-sentence. She took in his slackened jaw and followed his eyeline over to the entrance, where Betty was entering with her date on her arm.

Betty looked just like her new Facebook profile picture. Her long, blonde hair was pulled up in a simple updo for the occasion. She wore a pretty, comfy-looking maxi dress in a warm blue that complemented her eyes, along with the same gray cardigan she sported all throughout high school. Inez recognized her date as well: the auburn-haired, curvy beauty from that fated summer when James fucked it all up. Inez also knew her from Betty's pictures, but she couldn't remember her name. Something summery? Something to do with... time? August? Was that a name?

James walked away without preamble, as if a line was hooked in his belly and he could do nothing but follow it. His slack-jawed expression didn't change even as he stood next to the two of them at the check-in table.

Inez moved back to the bar, forgetting about everyone else as she zeroed in on her old favorite gossip mine. Realizing she had a better view from behind the bar, she slipped back and flashed her "I'm in charge" badge at the bartender, plus slipped that overdue tip (and then some) into his jar for good measure. He nodded and let her stay there without complaint.

Betty and August seemed to take the situation in stride; unsurprising, considering they probably prepared for this moment. James, to his credit, seemed to be holding his own side of their conversation with relative cool, other than the fact that his eyes remained slightly wider than normal. Inez cursed her inability to read lips, but their body language said a lot. August had her arm wrapped possessively around Betty, who leaned into her touch slightly. James was talking with his hands in a somewhat exaggerated way.

It took her a second, due to James's flailing, to realize he was gesturing them toward the very same bar she was standing behind. She yelped and, moments before they could spot her, knelt down under the pretense of organizing the glasses under the bar. The bartender shot her an odd look, but she just smacked him on the shin and put a finger to her lips to be quiet. Sure enough, the three of them approached the bar, and before long, she could make out the words they were saying.

"It's so cool that you two became friends!" came James's stilted, yet earnest voice.

A snort, most likely from Betty. "We're a little more than gal pals, Jamie."

A beat.

"We're engaged!" came August's more bubbly voice. Inez squeaked a little in both surprise and excitement, but luckily it was covered up by James's, "Holy _shit_!" Another few moments passed until the bartender broke through the awkward silence to take their drink orders.

As the bartender moved off to prepare their drinks, Inez crossed her legs, getting comfortable on the floor. She was happy to wait this one out.

"How, um. How long have you two been, y'know? Together?"

"Oh gosh," August said, "it's been what, babe? Almost eight years?"

"Eight _years_?" James parotted back.

"In November," Betty affirmed.

"That's… wow. Congratulations! I had no idea..."

"...that we were bi?" August finished for him.

"No! I mean, I knew that Betty was, is, but that's not—I didn't mean—"

"It's okay, Jamie," Betty said, cutting him off with a laugh. "She's just riling you up. We know it's bound to be a bit of a shock, seeing us together."

"Not hard to see how we'd have things in common, though," August mumbled, a little less forgiving.

"I'm happy for you," James insisted. "I just, uh, well, I didn't think you knew each other." 

Oof. Inez tilted her head back in exasperation. Not exactly the best thing to point out, coming from him.

August trilled a laugh while Betty said, "Clearly," and after another second, James started laughing too.

"Oh god, that was—fuck," he said, his bellowing laughs dispelling the tension. "Maybe I still am the same buffoon from high school."

Nobody refuted that, but they did keep on laughing for another minute. "We met on our own, during college. It had nothing to do with you," Betty finally said.

"No, of course. Well, um. It's good to see you. Both. I'm just gonna."

"Good to see you too," August said warmly.

"Maybe we can chat more later," Betty added.

A few seconds passed, and August said, "So…" but then silence took over again.

Inez was just starting to feel uncomfortable when Betty's voice, suddenly very pointed, called out, "You can come out now, Inez, he's gone."

Inez stood awkwardly, feeling the pain as she put weight on her heels again. "Ta-da?" she said aloud, waving her hands.

"Is this how you always knew what was going on? Lurking just below the surface?"

Inez laughed and retrieved her drink. "Nonsense. This was just a… strange opportunity. You can't blame me for wanting to hear how _that_ went down."

August laughed. "I had a little too much fun, I think." She leaned in toward Inez, lowering her voice. "You should've seen his _face_."

"Be nice," Betty chided, but she was smiling too.

"Why don't you grab some food and join me at a table?" Inez suggested. "We can catch up for a bit."

As soon as they were seated, Inez kicked off her shoes and leaned forward. "So. I have to know. Did it _really_ have nothing to do with him?"

Betty scoffed. "Girl, please. Obviously he's part of, like, our shared history, but let's not give him too much credit." She removed her cardigan as she spoke, and Inez gasped to see the bold lines of ink displayed over her arms.

"You are just full of surprises," Inez said, gesturing to the tattoos. "How long have you had _those_?"

"Oh, a long time," August answered for her. Inez studied her name tag. She couldn't read her loopy scrawl, but it did seem to start with an A. Maybe it _was_ August. "That's how we met, actually. Officially. Betty was working at the tattoo parlor next door while I made minimum wage selling flower arrangements to desperate students looking to impress or beg forgiveness from their love interests."

"Always such a cynic," Betty chided her.

"You're a tattoo artist?" Inez asked, disbelieving.

"I have been, yes. Mostly just as supplemental income while I worked on my own art. But I designed this one," she said, pointing out a detailed rose where the thorns formed a clock face, "and I've done quite a few of the featured pieces at our shop back home."

"She's very good with her hands," August put in before Betty smacked her. God, they were adorable.

"And that's how you met? Tell me the _whole story_ ," Inez prompted, propping her head on her hands.

The two of them shared eye contact for a long moment, making little noises before apparently deciding that Betty would go first. "I was coming home for Mother's Day, and I knew if I didn't bring something there'd be hell to pay. Only it was, like, Saturday at close, and I figured it'd be a crap shoot."

"It _was_ ," August said. "No way you can get a decent Mother's Day arrangement that close to the wire… unless you know someone."

"Only I didn't _know_ that I knew someone." 

Inez nodded, captivated.

"I recognized her the moment she walked in, a cloud of three-year-old guilt floating in with her," August said. "I could've sworn I had _the other woman_ written all over my face, and the _look_ she gave me when she got to the counter—"

"I was trying to be, like, I dunno, pouty! Appeal to this stranger and convince her to help save me from my mother's wrath!"

"Well, to me it was devastating sadness caused by the sight of me!"

Betty rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"So anyway, she _didn't_ recognize me, and when she told me her plight, I stammered at her for a minute and then sold her an arrangement someone else had failed to pick up, just so it would be over. I didn't realize she worked next door until she was literally walking out the door."

"Oh, that's right!" Betty said, delighted. "I offered you a tattoo discount!"

August shuddered. "She will never get me under a needle. _Never_."

"I'm with you there," Inez said, holding her fist out in solidarity. August gave it a friendly bump.

"It's _not that bad_ ," Betty said, exasperated. "Whatever, doesn't matter. So I visited home, did my family duties, came back and went about my life. Cut to _this one_ stumbling into my shop two weeks later, clutching a bouquet and looking like a lost lamb."

"Oh, come on. I wasn't _that_ much of a mess."

"You looked _terrified_!"

"I could hear buzzing!"

"We weren't going to give you a tattoo _at random_ , babe."

"Well, I know that now," August grumbled.

"You brought her flowers?" Inez asked, trying to get them back on track.

August laughed lightly. "Apology flowers. Calla lilies and tulips, I think? It was driving me crazy, waiting to see if she remembered me and came stalking back over to kick my ass."

"It was sweet," Betty said in contradiction. "She always makes it sound like this careful defensive strategy, but I think she just wanted an excuse to say hello."

"Well, you didn't accept my apology."

" _No_ , I told you I didn't _need_ an apology. Not from you. And James was already in the past at that point."

"Still," August said, looking pensive and taking Betty's hand in hers, "even though nothing happened once I knew about you, I'd spent a lot of time hoping it would. I felt guilty."

"I'm well aware, babe," Betty said softly. She gave August's hand a squeeze and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. Inez's stomach swooped and she glanced away toward the dance floor, her eyes landing on Mac immediately. "So, like a dork, she kept hanging around, trying to 'earn my forgiveness'. But she wouldn't come inside. Just kept taking her breaks on the bench outside."

"It was pathetic."

"It was adorable."

"And after that it took another eight months of being friends to realize and admit we actually wanted to date each other," August concluded.

"Ah, the bisexual experience," Inez said, raising her glass in a toast that the other two met with a laugh.

" _Speaking of_ , don't think I haven't noticed you eyeing Mac ever since we got here," Betty said, eyes sparkling. "What's going on there?"

Inez sighed. "The same thing that was going on in school? A lot of pining and nothing else. He's _so hot, though, right_?" she finished, shifting to a whisper.

"Definitely working the hell out of that leather jacket," Betty observed.

"Ooh, is _that_ who we're talking about? He's gorgeous. Don't look now, but he's definitely checking you out."

"No he's _not_ ," Inez said, focusing on her glass and downing the rest of the wine. "Shut up. I want to hear how you actually _got together_ , c'mon. With me to the bar."

"Okay, but fair warning, it's like, the cheesiest shit ever."

"Oh, I'm counting on it," Inez said, ordering them another round.

August sighed, taking the stool next to Inez. "She'd been away for like two weeks, on vacation in the Poconos. It was killing me. We talked to each other online every night, but it wasn't the same. I was seriously pining."

"Me too."

"Shh, babe. Let me tell the story. So the night before she came home, she signed off early to get some sleep before the drive the next day, and I spent like four hours researching how to tell if your crush likes you back."

Betty snorted, but at August's cutting look, she didn't say anything.

"We didn't hang out the next day, we barely chatted, so I was a nervous wreck by the time we saw each other at work the day after. I had all these tests to try, y'know? But it had to be _smooth_."

"Oh, I'm sure," Inez said encouragingly.

"But nothing I planned was working. I'd try to casually touch her and she would, like, mirror me? Her body language was nothing like the articles said, good or bad. And we were, just, barely talking. It was _weird_."

"Hella weird," Betty agreed.

"So I was frustrated, pretty sure that an inconclusive result was as bad as a negative one, but we'd already made plans to hang out, so. We went through the motions, watched a movie, ordered pizza, then crashed in my bed like always."

"Only neither of us could sleep."

"So many sighs in that bed that night."

Betty giggled. The story felt like it was about to take a turn.

"If I had been alone, I probably would have screamed into my pillow at that point. But I wasn't alone, so instead I just… pulled the sheet over my head."

"You hid under the covers?" Inez asked, and August nodded. "From your crush who was in bed with you?" Another nod. "Damn."

"Yeah," August agreed. "So that only worked for about thirty seconds, before Betty was ducking under with me and whispering to me all sweet." Her voice dipped down in a wispy imitation of Betty's slightly rougher cadence. " _Everything alright under here? Are we escaping?_ I mumbled something about it being another world, and suddenly we were back to our old selves, laughing and creating a new mattress-world—and no, that's not a euphemism."

"Well, it wasn't _yet_."

"Betty, _please_. So, okay, we talked ourselves out for a few hours, popping out from the covers at some point, but still talking quietly even though the only other living thing in the apartment was my cat. And then I was just, like, apologizing terribly. For making things so weird."

"Huh. I never realized it, but you do have a history of really strange apologies."

"Only _Betty_ wouldn't accept my apology," August continued, unhindered, "because she said _she_ had made it weird. Maybe that's the pattern, hm?"

"So long story short, we'd read the same article, and were both doing the crush-test thing to each other at the same time."

"And somehow botching it terribly," August finished, looking back at Betty fondly.

"Wow. You weren't kidding, that's some grade-A cheese right there," Inez said, grinning. "I love it. You should have your own Hallmark movie."

"Nah, we didn't have some corporate agenda to fight against in the background."

"Or any meddling but well-intentioned family members."

"Fair enough," Inez said, laughing. "So, eight years, you guys have been together? I'm surprised you didn't take off to Massachusetts sooner to get hitched."

Betty snorted. "Yeah, well, _somebody_ went to great pains to make it sound like marriage was the _worst thing that could ever happen_."

"Look, I had _trauma_ , okay? I didn't mean it about _us_."

"Of course. No idea why I would think that."

"Oh god, is the proposal just as nauseatingly cute?" Inez said, faking exasperation.

Betty shrugged. "Not really. Once she revealed that she actually _would_ marry me I stumbled into the kitchen in my pajamas and made an engagement ring from the bread tie."

"In what universe is that not nauseatingly cute?" Inez said, waving her arms a bit.

"Oh, it totally was," August agreed. "I wore it for like a week, too, until she offered me another one. Still have it in my vanity at home."

"Ugh. I hate you both."

"Aw, don't be that way," Betty said, standing up to hug her from behind. "We can totally wingwoman for you."

"Oh absolutely!" August turned around on her stool to face the room at large. "Aw, look at the puppy," she said, nodding toward James, sitting off to the side with an empty glass in his hand.

"He hates the crowds," Betty said, frowning.

"You should go dance with him," Inez suggested, turning too. "Both of you. We were chatting before you got here, and he seemed pretty eager to talk to you. With an emphasis on friendship, even," she added with a smirk. "I think you maybe just blindsided him a little."

Betty raised her eyebrows. "No way to prevent that, I suppose?"

Inez glanced off to the side, all faux innocence. "No?"

"I'm only teasing. It was kinda nice to have the upper hand for once. But we can take mercy on him, right babe?"

August tilted her head, studying Inez. "One condition."

After a beat, Inez realized that was addressed to her. "Oh, me?"

"We'll go dance with James, if you go ask Mac to dance."

Betty shook her head, laughing. "Look at you, playing matchmaker."

"What? I'm in a good mood."

Inez rolled her eyes. "Fine. But I wanna hear all about the convo with James later."

Betty smirked. "Deal."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta readers for helping flesh this one out. Merry Yuletide, everyone! Comments are love! <3


End file.
